YORKTON - The City of Yokrton marked its sixth edition of the annual Civic Recognition Awards meant to recognize citizens who have given selfless support and made contributions for the betterment of the community. This year’s adult category was selected as Dick DeRyk.
A long-time community member has been recognized for his tireless work in Yorkton. Dick DeRyk came to Yorkton in 1967 to work at the weekly newspaper and has lived in the community ever since, excluding 1969-1974 for a brief stint in Edmonton, where he served in marketing for the Edmonton Transit System.
DeRyk was born in the Netherlands in 1946 and his family emigrated to Canada in 1957. He graduated from what is now known as Algonquin College Journalism program. He and his wife Faye have been married since 1968 and together they enjoy their family that includes two children and eight grandchildren, along with two great grandsons.
The activity resume both in business and volunteer work is lengthy. His business activity included owner and operator of several businesses in Yorkton from 1987-2007. He was also a former part time instructor in business management and marketing for SIAST business course at Parkland College in Yorkton. The proud citizen also worked in communications for the provincial government.
From 1999-2013, DeRyk provided a variety of services to small businesses and community organizations through UncommonSense Business Solutions, which included web design, website maintenance and related services along with a number of other business services.
An interesting side gig has involved from March 2023 to present, having researched, written and hosted a podcast called Yorkton Stories (yorktonstories.ca, exploring the community’s past and present.
Organization and volunteer activity is a lengthy list
Equally as lengthy is organizational and volunteer involvement. It is evident that DeRyk was the go-to guy in the community when it came to community volunteers.
- As a board member of the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce, led the establishment of
Tourism Yorkton as a separate entity in 1985 and was the first president of that
organization.
- Chaired the committee that, in 1995, organized and hosted a reunion of trainees at the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Yorkton on the 50th anniversary of the end of
WWII.
- Chaired the committee, consisting of government representatives and the private sector,
that negotiated the formation of Tourism Saskatchewan in 1996.
- Elected the first chair of the board of Tourism Saskatchewan and served as interim CEO.
- Recipient of the Tourism Saskatchewan Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007.
- Chair of the committee that negotiated the amalgamation of the men’s and women’s amateur golf associations in Saskatchewan in 1999, and first president of the new gender-neutral
Saskatchewan Golf Association (now Golf Saskatchewan) 2000 to 2002;
- the only male to have ever served on the board of the Canadian Ladies’ Golf Association, 2001.
- Founding chair of the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery in Yorkton.
- Member of Yorkton city council for 13 years (various terms between 1987 and 2009).
- Chair of the REDA working group, appointed by the provincial government to examine the regional economic development association system in Saskatchewan, 2005 to 2007.
- Co-chair of the 2006 World Junior Hockey Challenge held in Yorkton, the first-ever Junior A level world hockey tournament.
- Former board member of Yorkton Chamber of Commerce.
- Named a Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Honorary Life Member, 2017.
- Former board member and past chair of Access Communications Co-operative.
- Former board member of the Society for Involvement of Good Neighbors (SIGN).
- Volunteer chair and co-chair of regional, provincial and national golf tournaments at Deer
Park Municipal Golf Course from 1986 to 2017.
-Volunteer providing communications/digital media services to the Yorkton Brick Mill Historical Society.
-Former board member of the Yorkton and District Community Foundation.
-Board member and, for the past three years, chair of the reactivated and reorganized Yorkton Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
DeRyk reflects on his commitment to community
When asked what inspires him to be committed to making his community a better place, DeRyk responds, “We’ve had a good life here in all aspects, and when presented with various opportunities and challenges related to the community organizations, I took them on as a way to give back to the community.”
A storied history in community service obviously results in highlights moments and DeRyk reflects stating, “I have been in on the ground floor of a number of new or changing organizations, which is always a challenge and rewarding when successful, including the founding of Tourism Yorkton, the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery, Tourism Saskatchewan, the amalgamated gender-neutral Saskatchewan Golf Association (now Golf Saskatchewan), the Yorkton Sports Hall of Fame, and of course the founding of Yorkton This Week weekly newspaper.”
DeRyk acknowledges an important key to his ongoing community commitment, which is the support of family and associates, which he says he was fortunate to have received as new ventures were time consuming and that may have meant missing out on things like family life and leisure time enjoyment.
There are rewards to what DeRyk has done and he outlines several of them in an interview with Yorkton This Week and SASKTODAY.ca
“The reward is seeing the success of new ventures, whether business or community organizations, that have contributed to the life of your community. On the business side, to me the financial rewards were somewhat secondary. “
DeRyk says his criteria for involvement in business has always been whether it broke even at minimum, whether it filled a need in the community, and whether it was fun. When any of those were no longer met, he got out.
“As far as volunteering in community organizations, if it added value to the community by filling a need, and if it was fun working with other likeminded people, I was all for it.”
While the five plus decade citizen says there are too many sources of pride in Yorkton to mention only a few however acknowledges, “I am proud that SaskGolf was the first provincial amateur golf body in Canada to amalgamate the men’s and women’s organizations – others soon followed”
DeRyk also gives praise to Yorkton for hosting the first ever World Junior A hockey tournament, which still continues today. Yorkton has responded very positively to the Community Fridge that was set up a couple of years ago to deal with food security issues, and he is a member of the mutual aid group that looks after that program.
Recipients are announced through the City’s social media accounts, web news page, digital advertising displays and the local newspaper. AS well, the Yorkton Legacy Coop has sponsored these awards, donating $100 gift cards to be given with the award.
The award recipients were formally celebrated and given their awards at a ceremony prior to the Jan. 27 Council Meeting.
